A
Lifetime
of ArtThe
Eiteljorg Museum honors Howard
Terpningwith
a major retrospective exhibition

page 2

Plains Indian cultures such as
the Blackfoot have fascinated Terpning through the years because
he is drawn to the horse culture of the nomadic hunting tribes.Though violence was a reality in
their lives, Terpning prefers to depict the everyday activities, ceremonies, and reflective moments of
his subjects rather than the heat of
battle.

Terpning's interest in western
history dates back to age 15, when he spent the summer at his cousin's ranch in Durango, CO. He fell in love with
the western landscape, did a lot of
hiking and fishing, rode on horseback, and camped out by himself in
the mountains. From that time on,
he was an avid student of the West.

Terpning attended the Chicago
Academy of Fine Art and the American Academy of Fine Art,
apprenticing with the famous
Haddon (Sunny) Sundblom in
Chicago. He became a successful
and prolific illustrator, doing commercial work for publications such
as Time, Good Housekeeping,
Newsweek, and Ladies' Home
Journal. His 1960s stint as a
Marine Corps civilian combat
artist in Vietnam resulted in paintings now displayed in the Marine
Corps Museum in Washington,
DC. He also painted more than
80 movie posters, including those
for The Sound of Music and Dr.
Zhivago.

Searching for something more
artistically satisfying, Terpning
began painting portraits, including
a portrait of a Sioux Chief for his
daughter, Susan. Then, at age 47,
Terpning took several months break from his commercial work
to complete three paintings. They
sold, and he relished the freedom
of painting what he chose and discovered that he was happiest
when painting his favorite subject,
western history. Thus marked the
beginning of Terpning's fine-art
career and his transition away
from commercial work. Moving
to Arizona, he established himself as a preeminent fine-art painter,
quickly becoming a member of
the Cowboy Artists of America
(CAA) and National Academy of
Western Art (NAWA).

Since then, Terpning has
received numerous awards,
including two NAWA/Prix de
West awards for MOVING DAY
ON THE FLATHEAD in 1981
and THE TROPHY in 1996. Both
were purchased for the permanent collection of the National
Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma
City. Last year he received the
Autry Museum's John Geraghty
Award for his contributions to
western art.

Reflecting on his career, Terpning
says he hopes his work will give
people a greater awareness of and
appreciation for the history and people
of the American West. "I think that as
time goes on and the world keeps spinning, we have a tendency as part of
human nature to lose our sense of history," he continues. "Really, without our
history, we don't have a future. We can't
forget our past. I think that is very
important, because our knowledge
comes from a sense of history, and we
have to know who we were and where
we came from in order to go forward. In
painting the Plains Indians, I'm telling a
part of the story of our American West,
certainly a very colorful and dramatic
part of our history. It's also a part of our
history that we can relate to, and it's not
that long ago.

"The Plains Indians were very, very
special people in so many ways," he continues. "I've always tried to paint people
in an honest light; I have tried not to
romanticize them. But I certainly have
painted them in a favorable light."

Terpning is quiet-spoken and modest, with a greater inclination to talk
about the subjects of his paintings than
about his own creative intentions. "I let
my paintings do the talking," he says.
"The emotion that I feel comes out in
the paintings, and I hope they move
other people."

What does the future hold for
Terpning? "More paintings," he says
with a smile. "I look forward to the next
painting, and hopefully I can improve.
That's certainly what I strive for. I do
want to slow down and probably get
involved in more special projects and
major works. But I have no intention of
stopping."